Woodlands Parkway contractor fired

Published 1:37 pm, Tuesday, September 9, 2014

The Texas Department of Transportation fired the contractor working on the lane expansion of Woodlands Parkway late last month with the project nine months past its original completion date of December 2013.

The termination of the contract has stalled the project — with no timeline to hire a new contractor or finish the project.

“It’s no secret we’ve had challenges” working with the contractor, TxDOT spokesperson Deidrea Samuels said.

The contractor, Menade Inc., offered the lowest bid — $2.86 million — to complete the expansion of the 1-mile stretch between Grogan’s Mill Road and Panther Creek Drive from four to six lanes.

TxDOT originally expected the project to cost about $6.5 million, as was reported in The Villager in September 2011.

Samuels said TxDOT has a low-bid process for choosing contractors. For every project, TxDOT offers all of the potential contractors the same terms and accepts the lowest bidder.

This expansion project was TxDOT’s first experience working with Menade Inc. Samuels said TxDOT currently has at least one other project with Menade Inc. in North Harris County.

The contract included a liquidated damages provision, which required the contractor to pay TxDOT $785 for every day construction continued past the agreed-upon completion date. Menade Inc. has racked up $127,955 in penalties.

“In February of this year, TxDOT and the county and the township began to see that this contractor really wasn’t performing,” said John Powers, assistant general manager for Community Services for The Woodlands Township, who served as a liaison for the project. However, the township had no authority over the project due to it falling under TxDOT jurisdiction.

“The contractor wasn’t responding to TxDOT’s requests for schedules and updates,” said Powers, who attended the project meetings with the contractor, the county and TxDOT. “The person that represented Menade was never able to provide definitive reasons for the delays. ... Sometimes you get what you pay for.”

According to Powers, after the date of scheduled completion passed, TxDOT started having more frequent meetings with the contractor — from monthly to every two weeks.

“He kept saying, ‘It’ll be finished in two weeks,’” Powers said of Menade’s owner and president, Jerry Wade. “It’s been two weeks for over a year.”

Wade said with 35 years in the contracting business, he’s never seen one of his contracts placed into default — until now.

“Just ’cause they say I’m in default doesn’t mean I am in default. That is their opinion,” Wade said.

Furthermore, Wade said he has suspicions that Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack may have held some sway in TxDOT’s decision to place his contract in default.

“TxDOT looks like they are taking orders from (Noack),” Wade said. “I don’t work for Montgomery County.”

Noack said the termination was TxDOT’s decision.

“I told TxDOT they need to do something to get this project finished,” Noack said. “Personally, I think TxDOT made the right decision — they were just a little slow making it.”

Wade said that, in spite of the delays, the project was nearing completion.

“I understand the community, but at the end of the day, no work is getting done on the project, and that road will sit right there.” Wade said. “We are a week away from finishing the job.”

Samuels expressed skepticism at Wade’s completion timeline.

“It’s not a decision we come to lightly,” Samuels said of the defaulted contract.

“It’s not something common. ... It certainly isn’t something we would have come to if the lane was going to be open in a week,” she said. “Based on the percentage of work that had been done in the past, we knew that wasn’t going to happen.”

Samuels said there are too many variables to approximate a new completion date.

As to fault, Wade blames a “poor” project design and government bureaucracy for the extended project delays.

“We said in the beginning that this design wouldn’t work,” Wade said. “Do not use it.”

Menade Inc. is initiating an appeal process this week, according to Wade.

However, even if an appeal isn’t granted, Wade isn’t exactly out of the picture. Per his contract, his bonding company could hire Menade Inc., the very same company found in default, to complete the job.

“It’s the nature of the beast,” Wade said of government bureaucracies.

Samuels said that it is too early to have any timeline for when a new contractor will be chosen and, until then, work on the project will cease. It is the responsibility of the bonding company, with TxDOT’s input, to ensure the completion of the project.

“TxDOT’s goal is to have all of our contracts completed,” Samuels said.